Federal prosecutors seek to delay Feeding Our Future trial, cite 'staffing changes'
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Federal prosecutors on Monday filed a motion to delay the start of an upcoming trial of a defendant in the sprawling Feeding Our Future fraud case, pointing to turnover in the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office as one of the factors.
Abdirahman Mohamud Ahmed is set to stand trial on June 8 at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Those charges date back to 2022.
But in Monday’s filing seeking to push the trial date back, prosecutors raised concerns about another Feeding Our Future trial set to begin in late April.
“Given the April trial, which involves seven defendants and is expected to be lengthy, counsel for the government will not be able to adequately prepare for the trial in this matter,” the prosecutors wrote in the filing in Ahmed’s case.
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“Additionally, there have been significant staffing changes in the United States Attorney’s Office since the January 16 trial order, including the departures of four attorneys who had previously been involved in this and the related Feeding Our Future cases. As such, the undersigned AUSAs have taken responsibility for all Feeding Our Future prosecutions,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rebecca Kline and Matthew Murphy wrote.
They added that because Ahmed is not being detained, “his liberty interests are not at issue.” But the filing indicated that Ahmed’s attorney objects to the delay. Judge Nancy Brasel has not yet ruled on the motion.
Several experienced prosecutors left the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office in January after top Justice Department officials pushed for an investigation into the widow of Renee Macklin Good, who was shot and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis.
And the Associated Press, citing a former federal prosecutor, reported that there had already been an exodus in the past year over objections to Trump administration directives.
At a news conference on Feb. 25, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen acknowledged that 11 assistant U.S. attorneys had left since he took office in October. But he said staffing was not an issue.
“Our office has all of this bandwidth and more. Our office continues to grow. And if you’re a criminal in the city Minneapolis or in the state of Minnesota, I recommend that you don’t commit crimes on the assumption that the U.S. Attorney’s office doesn't have enough lawyers. We’ve got enough to get you all,” Rosen said at the news conference.
